If I had to pick one type of plant right now in our gardens, it would have to be the hydrangeas.  We have many hydrangeas, both in shrub form and tree form.    The Quickfire Hydrangea shrub form has such great upright standability.  We have two in one of our beds – one on each end – and they are such good “anchors” for this bed.

One has more sun than the other so it blossomed sooner, consequently, it is turning pink now where the one with the more shade, is still pretty white.  Quickfire Hydrangea will grow to about 5 to 6 feet tall and wide.

In the main perennial / annual bed we have our Tardiva Hydrangea Tree.  This tree has graced this bed now for more than a dozen years and is beautiful.   Hydrangeas – both tree and shrub form – are best pruned in the late fall.  Once the blossoms have lost their beauty, prune them off.  We learned this the hard way several years ago.  Our Tardiva was full of blossoms and with the late fall / early winter hoar frost that grabbed onto each of the many flower petals, put a considerable amount of weight on the tree branches.  Well, sadly the main branch in the tree broke.  Leif pruned it out and we were heartsick in that our perfect Tardiva now was a little misshapen.  It took about 3 years, and it filled in and we continue to prune it each fall religiously.  This past fall he was a little more aggressive with his pruning and I told him that it didn’t look very good.  He told me to have faith and wait until the end of the summer.  Well, it is once again a beautiful tree.  A little skinny but next season – it will be more full.   Be sure to prune your hydrangeas in the fall.

Now for the perennials that are impressing me this week.  More hosta blossoms are getting my attention as is the Turtlehead.  This perennial is a great shade garden plant.  It has such a deep green color and it starts to blossom in

late August and will sport flowers most of September when most of the other perennials have done their job.  A nice clump reaching about 20-24 inches tall and about 18 inches wide.  We have them planted in among our hostas and heuchera.

Just a quick update on my hardy hibiscus in a part-sun – part shade environment.  The plant has now reach more than 5 feet tall and has blossoms opening up daily now.  Other hibiscus plants have been blossoming for a few weeks, and that is the trade-off for not being in the full sun.  However – mine is just as beautiful!